Sunday, 3 February 2013

Fat Elvis cupcakes

Now these are going to disgust some people because they are
topped with candied bacon!It’s always
good to start a baking post with the admission you’ll be disgusting some
people...is your mouth watering yet?Bacon cupcakes were a big thing a couple of years back and I thought it
was time I tried one.Yes, I am about
two years behind the curve on most things....never be an early adopter, that’s
my motto!

Mr CC cannot even hear me speak of these cupcakes without
grimacing. He can’t get past the bacon. I’ve tried rationalising it by asking him to
ignore the bacon – pick it off if it appals him – and just focus on the banana
cupcake with peanut butter cream cheese frosting. He then admitted he has a problem with banana
too. I’m not going to convert him on
this one, I can tell!

Seriously though, the bacon is a gimmick to tie it in to
Elvis. Simply omit it and you have a far
more ‘normal’ cupcake. The cupcake takes
its – admittedly rather cruel – name from Elvis Presley’s alleged penchant,
late in his life, for peanut butter, banana and bacon sandwiches.

I loved this cupcake.
The banana sponge is surprisingly light (lighter than say, banana bread)
and more banana flavoured than eating a banana.
I know that’s impossible but it tastes so intense. The cream cheese peanut butter frosting is
thick and smooth and one of those things you want to roll around in your mouth
because it feels so nice (oh....just me then?)

The bacon. The bacon
is AWESOME! I went for unsmoked back
bacon to stop it being too salty – the peanut butter is salty and I wanted to
keep it a balanced, mostly sweet cupcake.
Cooking the bacon in the maple syrup was a special kitchen moment for me
– close to spiritual. The smell! The look!
The taste! Sigh.....! Here are the three stages of the bacon:

I am aware that a lot of food sites are starting to promote
Valentine’s baking...and I’ve made Fat Elvis cupcakes. Perhaps not the most romantic of bakes. I do have some Valentine’s bakes up my sleeve,
but this weekend was more about the food of gluttony rather than the food of
love!

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and
fluffy. Don’t skimp on this stage.

Beat in the eggs, one at a time, adding a little of
the flour if it looks like it might curdle.

Beat in the remaining flour and baking powder.

Fold in the mashed bananas.

Spoon into the paper cases and bake for
approximately 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the sponge comes
out cleanly. (They take a little longer than normal sponges because of the large
amount of banana – it makes the batter rather wet)

Leave to cool - out of the tin – on a wire rack.

The sponges can be made a day or two in advance if
stored in an airtight container.

Now make the frosting: Sift icing
sugar into the mixing bowl.

Add the cream cheese, butter, and
peanut butter and beat until smooth.

If the frosting is soft, ten
minutes in the fridge will make it the perfect consistency.

Spread or pipe the frosting over
the banana cakes and sprinkle with chopped salted peanuts (if using).

Again, the frosting can be made
and applied to the cupcakes a day in advance of serving but need to be kept in
the fridge because of the cream cheese.

To
make the bacon: Start by cutting the bacon into 1.5 inch pieces.

Dry fry the bacon and pour away any fat that comes
out.

Add maple syrup and cook until dark brown. Be patient with this – it takes a while for
the liquid of the maple syrup to evaporate and turn into a thick, treacly
coating. Don’t rush it! When it becomes
difficult to turn the bacon because it sticks like glue to your spatula...it’s
ready!

Typical - I've never come across these before but just found them in a recipe book and am going to make them for my Alphabakes challenge this month! You beat me to it! You should send them in to Alphabakes if you haven't already - details are at www.themorethanoccasionalbaker.blogspot.co.uk. I'm going to make mine in a couple of weeks :-)

My boyfriend has the same attitude about bacon in cakes after I made some bacon brownies a while back - I thought the sweet/salty thing would work but they really didn't taste very nice! His face when I told him I wanted to make another cake using bacon was a picture!

Oh dear, I don't think I could go for a bacon cupcake, much as I love salty things. And I'm allergic to peanuts! So pass on this one. On the plus side, I can report that the spelt raspberry and blueberry cake hit the spot with husband and will definitely be made again in this household!

Love the debate bacon cupcakes are causing! I've never tried the combination, but I have tried bacon jam which was delicious and probably not too dissimilar. The banana cake in particular sounds really good.

Wow!! Now that is the most unique cupcake flavour combination I have seen a longgggggg time! I'm solely tempted to bake a batch myself to see what they taste like- and hopefully have some lush leftover maple bacon for a buttie or two!

I don't think you're going to sell these as a Valantine's treat with a name like Fat Elvis. If I try hard to ignore the bacon bit, these cupcakes sound gorgeous, cream cheese and peanut butter has got to be good.

Yeap, this works for me! Being American, we often have bacon, pancakes and maple syrup. I love the salty-sweet combination. Add cream cheese frosting and a lovely little cake...all I can say, in my best Elvis voice, is 'Thank you, thank you very much!'

I'm totally with you on the peanut butter frosting, but would hesitate at the bacon. That said, a recipe for maple-glazed bacon keeps calling to me, so I may just jump off that cliff at some point. And Fat Elvis? Brilliant name. I'm not sure what a svelte, snake hips cupcake would look like but suspect it wouldn't be this! ;)

I think the cupcake looks beautiful - am very tempted to try them out but wincing slightly at the trillion calories there must be in even half a cake! I could just make 6 I guess but I'd still have to eat all of them.

Love it! There is so much bacon stuff over here in baked goods, Canadians really love their bacon! We have it with our pancakes and syrup all the time..I'm sure I would love this! There's even a burger place here doing an elvis milkshake...not sure how I would feel about drinking blended up bacon but I would definitely love the candied bacon on your cupcakes!!

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